Aftermath
by ShortieBreadBuns
Summary: The aftermath of Super Danganronpa 2. {spoilers} The survivors wake up and have to come to terms with what they’ve done. It’s time for them to finally heal.
1. Waking Up Isn’t The Hardest Part

**Chapter 1**

_'Just some lowly reserve course student.'_

_'You'reIzuruKamukuraYou'reIzuruKamukuraYou'reIzuruKamukura-'_

_'There's no way we're ultimate despair!'_

_'No more last minute plot twists!'_

_'11037.'_

_'Isn't that messed up?'_

_'Future.'_

_'Future!'_

_'F u t u r 3@-'_

Phrases ebbed in and out from Hajime's conscious. Sudden flashes of memory overlapped and entangled each other. They were all tangled. They were tangled like a web. Perhaps tangled like two deer fighting for dominance.

_1 z u r u-:@_

_K a m u k u r @:_

It all felt fuzzy. It was like a film role that had been slaughtered into tiny pieces and rearranged.

_'-Hi-.'_

It felt all so far away. Static rang over the words loudly as he tried connecting the pieces.

_'-Hinat-.'_

Was there a noise? Remembering it all came in quick flashes. It seemed like too much.

_"-Hinata!"_

He needed to open his eyes. It hurt. The back of his head hurt.

_"Hajime Hinata!"_

Hajime flickered his eyes open, the brightness of the outside caused him to squint. The Neo World Program. It all came flooding back to him. The game. Junko Enoshima. Izuru Kamukura. It all felt so surreal. Lifting a hand up, matted black looking hair followed. It was all real. The nauseous feeling in his stomach was very much real as well.

"Welcome back Hinata," a feminine voice congratulated him softly and horsily.

"Nevermind?"

His eyes were slowly adjusting to the light. Her eyes were the same blue that carried such grace and empathy but what caught Hajime off guard was the rest of her appearance. Apart from her being in a wheelchair and wearing a hospital gown, her hair had been cut about an inch shorter and her face was pale. The princess had obviously lost a couple of pounds and the gown they had given her simply hung off of her limbs. Along with that, her pale face had the remnants of mascara and/or eyeliner clinging to the underside of her eyes. Yet the most noticeable thing about Sonia was her scars. Large jagged scars surrounded her face almost like her face was a mask.

That's when she started to tear up. That's when Hajime realised how long he had truly been looking at her.

"Sorry..." he commented guilty, "it's just odd not seeing your avatar,"

"I understand. It's..." she paused with a shaky smile, "difficult seeing everyone looking rather... different. However, we are still trying our hardest and carrying on. The Future Foundation will be here in a couple of minutes to get you unhooked from some of the wires. Now, I will excuse myself and leave you to get ready. You've been out for quite some time Hinata; we were rather worried."

The boy tried to nod however failed miserably so just smiled and that was the 'all clear' for Sonia to signal the three members and get wheeled out of there by a woman with her brown hair tied back in what looked like a tear drop shape.

A second after his friend was gone, he saw three shapes he recognised coming towards him: Togami, Naegi and Kirigiri. Sitting up, the long-haired Male grimaced as some of the wires pulled at his skin however he didn't stop that from giving the trio a welcoming smile.

"Hinata-kun! Great to see you awake," the brunette grinned as he began to walk over and undo the wires. He gently brushed the others black, matted hair out the way to get to the other places he needed to and Hajime cringed. He remembered how he looked from that memory in the last trial yet seeing and feeling the long strands of his other self felt wrong.

"Thank you." Hajime said quickly as Kirigiri and Naegi lifted him into a wheelchair and up towards his bed.

"Tomorrow you'll be going through a thorough medical examination of your physical and mental state. We don't exactly want you killing us in our sleep," Togami spoke matter-of-fact-ly. This made the reserve course student gulp and close his eyes, suddenly hyper aware of how he looked and his other name. Izuru Kamukura.

"Goodnight, Hajime Hinata." Kirigiri said as she closed the door. The room was dull and empty with the basic necessities. It would be a long night.

The static in his ears began as he attempted to fall asleep. The web was becoming more complicated as more loose strands appeared. An image popped up. The image of bright lights and a pod as well as the face of a man with a surgical mask. Too many questions flooded his mind. It was making him drowsy. With that, the boy slept with too many loose memories, too many questions and too much loneliness.

Hajime awoke feeling slightly nauseous from the small thread of memory he had recovered last night. Surprisingly, he wasn't feeling nauseous from remembering it; he was feeling nauseous from the pounding he felt in his cranium. It hurt. It hurt. Ithurt. Ithurtithurtithurtithurt. Instinctively he went to go and touch the area almost as if he was shielding it from harm. Desperately clawing away at the thick hair that strangled his head, the boy felt the scalp where it came from. It was a ragged piece of flesh. It was a scar- no it was *the* scar. He emptied his stomach over the side of the bed. Hajime let out a choked sob as he spat out the remnants of phlegm that lingered in his mouth. The name 'Yasuke Matsuda' appeared.

Obviously hearing the boys choked sobs, Kirigiri. To his surprise, worry painted her face along with a quiet determination that flickered in her lavender eyes.

"Hinata-kun," Kirigiri said.

It seemed so odd that the scar felt so grotesque. It was simply a scar. However, the feel of the sticky, knotted hair slithering amongst his fingers had crossed the line.

"Hinata-kun!" Kirigiri said, louder this time. She held the boys attention. "Breathe in... Breathe out."

This phrase repeated roughly eleven times until Hajime had stopped shivering and had just sat up in his bed. His eyes were red and the back of his mouth stung.

"Sorry..." he muttered, wiping his face with the gown he was given.

"Everyone that woke up had a rather difficult time," the female spoke, "however it's the middle of the night. Is it possible for you to rest some more?"

Hajime scrunched up his eyes as the memory flashed up again. Surgery tools. The bright lights. He felt sick again. He shook his head.

"I see," she blinked, "perhaps it would be better if I got you something to read. I'll stay with you tonight to monitor you and get the place cleaned up. Are you ok with that?"

Hajime shrugged. Something to get his mind off of it all would be good and he supposed that it would be easier to relax once the smell was gone.

Kirigiri then got to work. She left the room for a good five minutes before arriving with a mop bucket and mop and a book.

"I'm afraid I've only got books on neurology and murder mysteries..." her face was still stone set even if her voice had a tinge of sympathy. "So I got you a book from Naegi's room. Just a simple manga about a green-haired hero."

With that, the purple-haired girl set the manga on the bed and began cleaning up the vomit. Hajime tried to stay awake and read the entirety of the book but felt himself fall into a deep dreamless sleep.

Yasuke Matsuda. _What a boring name._


	2. Chapter2

**Chapter 2**

The sun beamed through the curtains, stroking the barren medical room. The small specs of now-visible dust danced cautiously in the beam, almost seeming to disappear as soon as they stepped out. Pale walls stared back emptily at the contents they contained as the sun's grip kept flinging itself at them. The once-white walls were stained with various shades of brown, presumably coffee and dirt however it was an inside guess. The four cement blocks stood proudly over the tiled floor. Surprisingly the floor was sparkling clean. However, after a couple of seconds it was obvious why. The stench of bleach and other such cleaning products wavered around the room in a rather unsavoury cloud. This was along with the itchy sensation of the robe and quilt as they scraped together. This was along with the awful silence. This was along with no sight of Kirigiri. This was along with the muddled memories of last night. What was that name again?

Hajime rubbed his eyes wearily after his analysis of the room. It was a rather empty room. Nothing apart from a select couple of medical tools that he couldn't be bothered to exactly name. He attributed his slight knowledge of the medical equipment to the time he spent in the hospital with Tsumiki and Kuzuryuu. The dark-haired brunette grimaced as he recalled the third trial. Tsumiki knew it all. She knew it all too quickly. She knew about the past and it turned her into Ultimate Despair. Hajime forced himself to add 'again' to that thought. It caused him to shudder slightly as he panicked slightly. Would remembering cause them to go back to Ultimate Despair? Would he turn back into 'that'?

However, he knew that he had chosen to make a new future. A new future where he could stay as Hajime Hinata and have the 77 class of Hopespeak Academy beside him. It was bizarre how he had always wished to be beside the ultimates and now here he was, another one in the class that had caused the end of the world. Letting out weak laughter, it soon turned into a cough. After all, he hadn't exactly used his actual vocal chords in awhile. The reserve course student knew that his other counterpart sure didn't use them often either. Even so much as thinking the name caused him to shiver. He was Hajime Hinata; not whatever the academy turned him into. He wasn't the one that set up the killing game in the Neo World Program. He wasn't the reason that his friends weren't waking up. However, the thing that terrified him the most, was that he actually technically was that reason. He was the one that caused his own friends to butcher each other. Those thoughts and realisations terrified him. Izuru and Hajime were the one that uploaded the virus. The one that allowed *her* to give motives. The one that allowed *her* to give Komaeda the files that made him hate everything. The one that allowed Nanami and Usami to be executed. Hajime decided to force all of that out of his head. What was that medical equipment called again?

After a couple of hours of random thoughts leading to nothing, the real ultimate hope stepped through the door. The other's optimism shone out of every look and through every word he spoke. It reminded him of a certain pink-haired gamer. Pushing that thought out of his mind (Hajime would think about it later, he continued listening to Naegi tell him about the physical therapy that he would have to go through. Hajime perked up when he heard Sonia had grown back enough muscle to start walking with a stick now. They were all working so hard.

He noticed the other frown slightly. Then the Ultimate Hope mentioned that Akane would still need to go through much more and have to eat a bit more. After all, it wasn't like she could eat huge amounts anymore. Certain tastes made her throw up due to the aftermath of her time in Ultimate Despair. Hajime made a mental list to check up on her and see what kind of foods she could eat.

——————

Kazuichi was the first visitor he had. The first thing he even did was hug Hajime and tell him how much he missed his 'Soul Friend', as he called it. It took the awhile to take in the other appearance. The now-tattoo-covered boy had already seen Hajime in the pods after all. Even if it was odd to see Kazuichi with normal black hair and without coloured contacts, he was glad to see that the other's shark teeth had survived Ultimate Despair. His own red eyes peaking over the other's tattooed arms, he smiled. The dark-haired brunet had missed his ridiculous pal. Even if the other was occasionally a coward, Kazuichi had shown his mental strength in choosing to make a new future with them all. Lost in all his thoughts, it had taken him awhile to realise that his shark-toothed friend was crying.

"Bro, I thought you weren't gonna wake up at one point! I seriously thought that you'd disappeared. Don't do that to me again! There's so much I wanna tell you. Miss Sonia started a plan to redo the place up and that prick Byakuya wanted to pull the plug on our friends! Did you know that their Byakuya and our Byakuya are different Byakuya's? It turns out we were friends with the Ultimate Imposter!"

"One thing at a time, Kazuichi," Hajime was shocked at his own voice; it came out so monotone. Shaking his head, he continued, "are our friends ok?"

"Yeah, the asshole got talked down by the hope guy. But he still tried to do it! Fuyuhiko's pissed-"

"You called him 'Fuyuhiko'?"

"You've been down awhile, bro; we've all started using first names. So yeah, you can call me Souda!"

"Alright, Souda, how long have I been out for?"

"About a month. Speaking of the midget, Fuyuhiko apologises that he couldn't come today. He's doing some gardening," Souda snickered the last part.

"A month? How come it took so long for me to wake up..." Hajime ignored the last part. He didn't care about the gardening at the moment. How come everyone had woken up before him?

"Hey, Hajime, don't worry about it. You're up now, that's all that counts. Right, bro?"

He paused a second before answering, "yeah I guess..."

The two had talked for awhile longer before Souda had cooking duty. It turned out that they all had little jobs (apart from Akane due to her physical condition). When he was able to move around properly, the brunet would be glad to have something to do to take away all the questions lurking in his mind such as:

What will happen to his friends in the pods?

What took him so long to wake up?

How will they react to waking up and finding out the truth?

How will Komaeda be after realising his plan failed?

Can they get Nanami back?

Would they even be able to get Nanami back?

——————

Hajime had gotten the occasionally visit from Sonia and Souda until Kuzuryuu finally came to visit.

By now, the reserve course student could move in a wheelchair and the freedom felt amazing. He could now move from room to room with just a bit of effort yet he wasn't allowed outside due to the lack of paths. After all, he could've gotten stuck in the mud. Somehow, Hajime kept on missing the blond by the skin of his teeth. Kuzuryuu had truly been the busiest out of all of them due to the fact he didn't do any work during the night. After all, Sonia had told him that the gangster grew grouchy without a full nights sleep. The mental image that grew in his mind made him snicker slightly.

So when the blond came into the hospital room right before he drifted off, Hajime was truly surprised. He looked practically the same from his ingame avatar: eyepatch and all. Forcing down a grimace, Hajime realised that the eyepatch was probably because he had previously had *her* eye in its place. It was evident that the boy had along grown about a centimetre and from that picture of the grown Hiyoko they'd all seen, he was now the shortest of them all.

"It's been awhile," the visitor said with a small smile tugging at the corners of his mouth, "I'll never get used to that fuck-ton of hair you have. Have you asked anyone to cut it off?"

"It keeps growing back every time," he rolled his eyes at his own hair. Now that was a thing he never thought would happen. "I've asked Kirigiri and even she's puzzled about it,"

The unsaid words of: 'that experiment kinda screwed up my body' lingered in the air and soured the mood slightly. However, Hajime was determined to try and get back to how he once looked. After all, looking in the mirror was still too difficult to bare at the moment. Even touching his hair was difficult.

"You're not the only one with hair difficulty. Souda keeps on nagging the Hope guy for some hair dye," they both smirked at the mental image of the tall tattooed guy nagging a small (just a bit taller than Kuzuryuu) spiky haired guy for some pink hair dye.

Hajime felt his chuckle die down before ,

"Are the Future Foundation still trying to hunt down the 78th class survivors for this?"

"They don't know that we've changed. As far as they know, we've turned back into *them,"

"But they all saw the Neo World Program! Surely they'd know that something's changed..."

"It's up to us to prove to them that we've all changed. But the first step towards all that is getting the others to wake up,"

The two of them stayed in silence until Kuzuryuu checked his watch. It could've been only a couple of minutes but it dragged out and felt like hours.

"I should probably get some sleep. It's a busy day tomorrow. Gotta go through the seeds we have stocked up; see if they're poisoned or something."

With that, the Yakuza leader left the room. With that, Hajime was left alone with this thoughts again: the terrifying thoughts.


End file.
